Thody's American Adventures

No
road in American history has played a greater role in
opening up the country than what's known today as The
Historic National Road. Join Peter Thody as he drives
across Ohio and discovers that historic sites aren't always
scenic, that there are times when a chain hotel is infinitely
preferable to an independent motel, and that some things
were just not meant to be.

The
guidebooks may promise you old diners, filling
stations and soda fountains but our experience
of an admittedly short section of The National
Road in Indiana was slightly less romantic than
that.

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Photo by Peter Thody

Heading east on any U.S. highway feels wrong
somehow, but nowhere more so than on what, since 2002, has
been designated "The Historic National Road."

Modern America was built from east to west, and
this is the road on which work began. Authorised by Congress
in 1806, the nation's first federally funded interstate highway
was built to open up access to the states carved out of the
old Northwest Territory: Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Construction
started in Cumberland, Md., in 1811 and the road reached its
western terminus, in Vandalia, Ill., in 1839.

Today, the National Road is a designated section
of U.S. Route 40. Carole and I pick it up in Indiana, in the
town of Knightstown.

Historic it may be, but the section that runs
through eastern Indiana provides a fairly depressing snapshot
of modern America. Virtually every town we pass through has
its own deserted gas station and a handful of stores with
"Closed" signs just visible through unwashed windows.

Richmond, the last major city heading east, may
not be dying on its feet in quite the same way, but the endless
strip of motel franchises, fast food outlets, body shops,
tire fitters and muffler replacement dealers still speaks
volumes. The National Road once represented everything exciting
and optimistic about America, but this final section in eastern
Indiana, if not a corridor of complete destitution, is certainly
no longer anything to be celebrated.

Then we cross the state line into Ohio. In an
instant, the jungle of neon signs gives way to a landscape
of red barns and cornfields and, for a few miles at least,
we're able to enjoy a road that's become what we imagined
it would be: a two-lane highway through gently rolling farmland.

The first major place we pass on our way across
the Buckeye State is Dayton,
the city in which Orville and Wilbur Wright invented and built
the world's first successful airplane. This feat is recognised
today on every state license plate: "Ohio - Birthplace
of Aviation."

Now, my knowledge of the story of flight may
be sketchy (my boyhood history lessons in England tended to
concentrate on more interesting inventions like Jethro Tull's
seed drill and Hargreaves' spinning jenny) but didn't the
first flight actually take place in Kitty Hawk, N.C.?

Well, yes, it did - North Carolina's plates state
"First in Flight" - and the two states have been
arguing about it since. So determined was Ohio to lay claim
to the title that in 2003, 100 years after that first flight,
the question came before Congress: "Was Ohio or North
Carolina the birthplace of aviation?" Somewhat surprisingly,
in my view, the House voted 378-3 in favour of Ohio - and
there's no prize for guessing where the three dissenting voices
came from.

The next city on the National Road is Springfield,
Ohio, and, well, let's just say that the impression it gives
from the road we're travelling is less than impressive.

Entering from the west, visitors are greeted
by the sight of block after block of bulldozed homes and boarded-up
properties awaiting demolition. Closer to the center, the
residential desolation gives way to red brick warehouses and
factories which, if not yet totally abandoned, have sunk to
such a state of disrepair that the owners have long since
given up repairing broken windows.

We drive straight through, leaving the city along
a section of road lined by cheap food joints, auto-related
discount stores and a collection of the most run-down motels
I have ever seen. Cars are jacked up, men sit outside drinking,
and weeds grow between the tiles in pools that can't have
seen anything more than rainwater in years.

These are places that would have Javier Bardem's
character in "No Country for Old Men" fearing for
his safety, so we head straight for the nearby interstate
and its promise of faceless but safe and clean chain hotels.

The next morning I get talking to a Springfield
local who is genuinely taken aback by the poor impression
her city has made on us (and I am certainly not insensitive
enough to have expressed my full feelings). She points out
that the demolition work is in preparation for a spanking
new hospital, that the city boasts a
renowned Frank Lloyd Wright building and that, somewhat
embarrassingly, we've contrived to drive straight past a historic
National Road inn - Pennsylvania
House - the previous night.

With all this in mind, we set off determined
to take a more positive outlook. Unfortunately, my insistence
on sticking to the National Road means that even the state
capital, Columbus,
disappoints. Columbus is a city with a world-class zoo, a
thriving arts scene and outstanding architecture, but our
route just leads us from one run-down neighbourhood to the
next, past $40-a-night motels where the facilities are so
basic that one has decided that "COLOR TV" is a
luxury worth shouting about.

With the protests from the shotgun seat increasing
in volume and the generalisations about Ohio becoming ever
more sweeping, I feel that the time has come to concede defeat
and take a fresh look at the map (in hindsight a decision
I should possibly have taken earlier). Perhaps a diversion
south to Lancaster, birthplace of General William Tecumseh
Sherman, will show us a different side of the state.

And within a matter of just a few miles, U.S.
Route 33 transports us to a world of wonderfully drivable
back roads, neat front gardens, picture-postcard farms and
rolling, green countryside. It's an absolute delight, as is
the visit to the Sherman
House Museum, the beautifully restored wooden frame home
in which William Tecumseh and his 10 siblings were born and
raised - and, impressively, where our guide turns out to be
the descendant of one of the great general's officers.

Lancaster is a picturesque place in its own right, so we stop for lunch.
Halfway through, a complete stranger (well, he would be, wouldn't
he?) introduces himself, asks about us and our trip, and offers
some tips before wishing us well. It's things like this that
can alter your impression of a whole state so, whoever you
are, sir, you're a great ambassador for the Birthplace of
Aviation.

With renewed vigour, we head back north, passing
by the home of another of the three great Ohio generals, Philip
Sheridan (the third being Ulysses S. Grant), before rejoining
Route 40 at Norwich, home, appropriately enough, to the National
Road Museum.

This is actually a two-for-the-price-of-one attraction,
combining a very impressive history of the National Road with
an area dedicated to locally born author Zane Grey, a man
described as the "Father of the Adult Western" (a
title earned for his prolific output of grown-up cowboy novels,
not for his place in the history of special-interest pornography).

From here to the West Virginia state line is
about 60 miles and, as if making one last effort to win us
over, the National Road suddenly becomes everything we'd hoped
it would be. There's the picturesque old city of Cambridge,
with its historic 19th-century buildings. There are the S-bridges,
a design feature unique to the National Road and developed
to avoid the need to build bridges at an angle across rivers.
And there's the countryside itself, which begins its gentle
climb up into the Appalachian Mountains.

It's just a shame that, instead of leaving Ohio
with this positive image in our minds, we decide to spend
another night in the state, at a hotel on a hill overlooking
St. Clairsville.

Within minutes of our checking in, the hotel
and adjacent restaurant suffer a power cut. "Nothing
to worry about," we're reassured. "It'll be on again
soon. You guys just have another drink."

Two hours pass and the obscenities emanating
from the dark shadows of the kitchen make it clear that we're
not the only ones to have enjoyed "just another drink."
It's obvious that even if power were to be restored now, the
staff would be incapable of preparing anything remotely edible,
so Carole and I return to our room, where we eat pretzels
by the light of the glow sticks that have been handed out
to all guests.

It's
a shame you focused on the negative in lieu of the positive.
Did you stop at the Old National Road Welcome Center to
get your Indiana National Road Driving Tour Booklet which
highlights the historic sites along the National Road? If
not, you missed your opportunity to be enlightened. Along
the Historic National Road in eastern Indiana, you'll find
a wealth of historic sites and sounds. Yes, the community
has grown since the 1830s; however, we have preserved many
original sites like:

Historic
Centerville - Nowhere else in Indiana will you find 1830s
brick rowhouses with connecting archways. This architecture
is a direct result of the National Road built in the 1830s.
The town's major street was originally 10 feet wide, but
the property along the street front was so valuable that
the street was narrowed to its present 65 feet to allow
additional building development. The narrowing of the street
allowed property owners on Main Street to add on to the
front of their building. Builders left narrow alleys with
archways over them between the rowhouses, allowing the owners
access to the rear of the buildings and backyards. Today,
five archways remain. Centerville's architecture is highly
regarded today by architectural experts throughout the U.S.
Historic Centerville was voted one of the 100 Best Small
Town Getaways in the Midwest (Midwest Living Magazine June
2007), and noted as "an antiquing hotbed featuring
buildings from the early-1800s heyday of the National Road."

The Historic Lantz House Inn was selected
as a "Best Weekend Getaway" by Midwest Living
Magazine. The 1835 bed and breakfast has been lovingly restored
and offers five guest rooms each with a private bath

Huddleston Farmhouse Inn Museum - Built in
1841 when the National Road was young, the Huddleston farm
was a stopping point for pioneers making their difficult
trek westward. Today, people can tour the farmhouse, smokehouse,
springhouse and grounds to learn about pioneer life. During
the months of September and October, Harvest Suppers are
offered. It's an authentic mid-nineteenth century meal prepared
from period "receipts" at the farmhouse kitchen
hearth. You may help prepare the meal under the guidance
of costumed hearth cooks, and then enjoy the meal by candlelight
at the long harvest table in the farmhouse dining room.

Historic Mile Markers - Two of the original
Historic National Road mile markers can still be found today
along eastern Indiana's National Road. These small stone
markers informed travelers how far they were from the state
line as well as the nearest towns.

Madonna of the Trail Monument - This 18-foot
tall monument located in Richmond's Glen Miller Park is
a tribute to the early pioneers who trekked westward from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. One of only 12 such statues
in the U.S. from Cumberland, MD to Upland CA.

Many original 1810 - 1830 log cabins on the
National Road - From Cambridge City to Richmond (20 mile
stretch), you'll find five original log cabins sitting on
the National Road.

Preserved historic architecture on the National
Road . . . here are just a few: